The Architecture Podium has announced the winners of the 2018 International Architecture Awards 2018, given to ‘projects showcasing excellence in innovation in creative architecture & design projects’. This year, 586 projects were registered from more than 40 countries, spanning architecture, landscaping, urban design, product design and interior design categories.
Architecture Podium has been hosting Awards for many now, some of the past Winners includes, Aedas, TerreformOne, Rockwell Group, Pepe Gascon Arquitectura, Morphogenesis, Dada & Partners, Nadaaa, XTEN Architecture, Mecanoo, ABIBOO Architecture and many more.
Full details on the awards and winners are available on the official website here. Below, we have organized the winning schemes by category.
Duke Ellington School Of The Arts by LBA-CGS Joint Venture
1st Award – Commercial (Built)
The Design-Build Team was challenged to transform this aging 1898 National Landmark through a comprehensive modernization and expansion program into a world-class facility that finally matches the school’s reputation as one of the nation’s premier High Schools of the Arts. The design finds the balance between restoring and respecting the historic fabric, while creating major new academic and performance venues. To accommodate the new technically sophisticated Arts programs, approximately 73,000 sf of outmoded secondary space was replaced with 175,000 sf of new construction. The remaining historic space was restored, renovated and adaptively re-used, expanding the 600 student facility to a total area of 265,000 sf.
Angolar Market by arktonic
1st Award – Commercial (Concept)
This project is proposal for the marketplace at Sapu area in Luanda, Angola as part of a social contribution. The goal of this project is to be a public space for low-income people in Luanda, Angola, as a social interaction that responds to the community in a sustainable way beyond the commercial market to the community. The most challenging task of this project was to form a social community in the local environment with an extremely low budget. In addition, the project site is located in sub-urban area and accessibility in this area is low; poor infrastructure and public transportation.
Hiroo Inokuchi Hall by Takenaka Corporation
1st Award – Cultural (Built)
The late Dr. Hiroo Inokuchi was a proposer of the term “organic semiconductors.” This project involved the creation of a place not only to hand down his great works to future generations but also to serve as a hub of information network to present the research results of many researchers in the future. We designed this building to be in a linear configuration that evokes the image of a “spine” passing through the center of the facilities on the site and to serve as a “core of wisdom,” a new main feature of the whole research center property while preserving and utilizing the surrounding environment which includes the conservation “satoyama” forest and irrigation reservoir (Fukuda Pond).
Maritime Museum & Research Center In Dubai by Studio Niko Kapa
1st Award – Cultural (Concept)
Dubai has always been a city with a strong maritime heritage, which today is transformed to massive waterfront developments. This project asks for a greater recognition and awareness of the oceans and marine resources as well as their importance to mankind. Relating to both the sea and the city and in constant dialogue between them, the building is an extension of the city to the sea and vice-versa. Conceived as a continuation and a transition through the wide public space, the building dives into the ocean and merges with it.
The Ecotone Hotel by RAA
1st Award – Hospitality (Built)
The project is a hotel on the shores of Biwa Lake, the largest lake in Japan. The design intent was to revitalize the site’s Ecotone (a transition area of vegetation between two different plant communities, in this case water and land) that has been damaged by rapid, economic-driven development while utilizing the abundant potentials of the site, incorporating them into the design.
Happy And At Ease by Studio Prospettiva
1st Award – Housing (Built)
This project was about taking care of people, while making architectural choices. Both beauty, meant as esthetic values, and gain, meant as economic value, enhance specific aspects of people’s life. But good also is something essential that leads to a positive experience of life.
Arizona State University, Tooker House by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB)
1st Award – Institutional (Built)
Tooker House at Arizona State University is a seven-story, 458,000-square-foot living/learning facility for freshman engineering students. Developed through a collaboration between the University and the Fulton Schools of Engineering, Tooker House a case study on the impact of design solutions created for unique student groups to further their social growth and development. The building features 1,582 beds; five staff apartments; a 27,000-square-foot dining hall and convenience store; numerous study and social lounges; a large maker lab and flexible classroom; and a fitness center.
Hotel Axel Madrid by El Equipo Creativo
1st Award – Interior – Commercial (Built)
The design of the AXEL Hotel Madrid superposes a series of historic references forming a complex and explosive tandem. One of the starting points is the privileged location in the very midst of Madrid’s literary neighborhood, where it is located in a palatial 19th Century building, where its noble rooms still conserve elements of great patrimonial interest.
Quartz Media by Desai Chia Architecture
1st Award – Interior Design – Corporate (Built)
The open floor plan layout is flexible with flowing circulation that encourages people to take different routes around the office (which promotes chance encounters with colleagues from different fields of expertise.) A broad expanse of “seating cubbies” lines the window wall; the cubbies provide open book storage for editors, and they have become a gathering destination for small group chats. A range of conference rooms provide ample meeting spaces for larger groups, and ‘phone booth’ rooms serve as quiet retreats for private calls, interviews, and even meditation.
123 Hillcrest by REdesign.build
1st Award – Interior – Residential (Built)
This new single-family residence infills an underutilized lot. The design intentionally avoids mimicking neighboring architecture, identifying instead with the founding spirit of place. The home’s form is an outgrowth of the neighborhood’s cultural roots: respect for nature, modern living and individual expression. The home integrates four levels of modern, indoor-outdoor living and honors its owners’ aspirations for a progressive and sustainable home.
The Contemporary Area Of Al Seef by 10 Design
1st Award – Mixed Use (Built)
Stretching 1.8 km along the creek, Al Seef is located in the historic heart of Dubai adjacent to the Al Fahidi Cultural Historical Neighborhood. The contemporary area of Al Seef, designed by the nominated design architect, spans around 670m of the creek, covering GFA 85,000m2. The site has been developed in 2 phases: Phase 1 accommodates the retail, F+B, and marina spaces while Phase 4 accommodates hospitality and F+B spaces along with the car parking structures for both phases.
Retro67 by Andrea Vattovani Architecture
1st Award – Mixed Use (Concept)
The project RETRO 67 is inspired by the appearance of the oldtown of Beirut. The architects have reinterpreted several elements of the new building’s surrounding environment in aim to communicate its strong relation to the city. To them urbanistical aspects were important to underline the perspectives of a street, in site plan it is made clear that, while designing, they respected the structure of the city and improved it.
C&P Corporate Headquarters by INNOCAD Architecture
1st Award – Office Building (Built)
A real estate company’s corporate headquarters, located at the city’s highest traffic entrance, brings clarity and conciseness to an industrial transition area as a new landmark in this emerging district. The projects main ambition was to create an authentic example of “Build Identity” within the context of a seven story building, incorporating the client’s logo icon throughout the building elevation. The project name, CUBEND, translates firm values by unifying the words “cube” relating to wholeness and persistence, plus “bend” standing for movement and dynamics.
Runaway by SPORTS
1st Award – Pop-Ups and Temporary Structure (Built)
In order to emphasize the client’s goal for the pavilion to act as a vibrant beacon and extension of its stationary location in Santa Barbara, Runaway emphasizes a saturated visual environment that aims to architecturalize the aesthetic quality of air of the region. The aesthetic qualities of the air in Santa Barbara is often very powerful and visible – a beautiful blur caused by heat (heat shimmer or mirage) and beach fog (June gloom). Runaway privileges this visual and atmospheric effect and in so doing, acts as a beautiful spectacle and object of urban decor for the communities of Santa Barbara.
Gaudi System by Studio Niko Kapa
1st Award – Product Design – I.D. Elements (Built)
Sponsored by Audi Innovation, Gaudí System is a responsive bath system designed to give the users full control of their basic bathing necessities as well as minimise use of excessive water and electricity. Taking into account physical posture and ergonomics, Gaudí System can transform the floor and reshape a bathing landscape as decided by the user.
Extension Of The Ctles by Antonini Darmon Architects
1st Award – Public Building (Built)
Extension of an existing building designed by D. Perrault in 1995, this project is intended to archive documents from the libraries of universities and research centers in the Paris region, as well as from the French National Library. The first CTLES building imposes a strong identity on the site. From the point of view of both implementation, functional and architectural expression, the extension is designed in perfect continuity with the existing structure. As the building is set into the ground, the heights of the two structures are almost aligned.
Floodlab by Desai Chia Architecture
1st Award – Public Building (Concept)
FloodLAB, an education pavilion and boat house for the New York Restoration Project, expresses resilience and sustainability along a tidal flood zone— a new publicly-accessible gateway to the Harlem River waterfront. As the site is subject to potential storm surges of six feet due to the rising sea level, our landscape strategies celebrate and enhance the sustainable coastal ecologies that are native to the area. FloodLAB transforms a derelict site into an engaging educational destination— the architecture and a new waterfront promenade include a range of teaching tools to explore water stewardship and the biodiversity of the natural habitats at the water’s edge. Ecological zones organize a series of saline terraces and reflect naturally occurring habitats that will vary with tidal influence. Our site and buildings will be resilient to tidal and flood influences.
Ring House by decaARCHITECTURE
1st Award – Residence (Built)
The Dior Chance Residence by Welch Design Studio
1st Award – Residence (Concept)
The sight of the mystical rustic building, the barn, often reminds one of a simpler life in our American history. Historic barns vary in style, but the common thread they all share is they are built with economy, purpose, efficiency, and common sense. There were no architects at the time to meticulously craft a custom design. Rather, the community converged together, pulling resources, working hard towards realizing a common vision. This practice of barn building was passed on from generation to generation.
Chennai Airport by Creative Group
1st Award – Transportation (Built)
The wings of a bird in flight inspire and shape this very mammoth terminal building, whose sheer scale and size awes the onlooker. The two wings evolve as structural portals and culminate into a system of roof, shading Asia’s one of the greenest airport. With a total site area of 100 acres, the terminal buildings, with elegant 300 m twin wing-like hovering roofs on both sides provide complete shade to the south facing elevation and protect the departing passengers from heat gains.
Klenovy Boulevard Station by ARCHSLON
1st Award – Transportation (Concept)
Rich cultural context of the area forms a colourful and recognizable image of the untouched natural landscape. It stretches along the banks of the Moscow River, accompanied with the iconic architectural monuments of Russian wooden and stone architecture. The Palace of the Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich stands as a symbolic figure of the entire ensemble. Its characteristic silhouette becomes a symbol for the object itself and for the entire surrounding area.
Side Walk Café by SWA Architecture
1st Award – Urban Design (Built)
Unlike the outdoor eating cafes in Europe which appeared spontaneously whenever there was something delightful or fascinating to look at nearby, the history of New York City’s sidewalk cafes was not as organically accepted in the physical and legislative landscape; the process has been slow and arduous.
Ri-Gjanica _ Urban and Landscape Regeneration of Fier’s City Center by MAU Architecture
1st Award – Urban Design (Concept)
The project’s strategy aims to increase those elements that characterize Fier’s identity, to achieve the reconstruction of a series of relationships that have conditioned the quality of life of its citizens.
The city’s reconnection with the river Gjanica is sought not only through the presence of a new urban platform, but through a link to its broader and more complex territory, towards transparency, visibility, usability and access to the coast; a green relationship permits the recognition of a permeable boundary within compact constructions, by enhancing visual perception.